World www..org/water/wwap Assessment Programme

Secretariat: c/o UNESCO/Division of Water Sciences 1, rue Miollis F-75732 Cedex 15 Tel.: +33 1 45 68 39 28 / Fax: +33 1 45 68 58 29 E-mail: [email protected]

For the first time, twenty-three agencies and convention secretariats have combined their efforts and expertise to produce a collective World Water Development Report, offering a global overview of the Executive Summary state of the world’s freshwater .

This Executive Summary sets forth the key issues and seven pilot case studies presented in this important and timely reference book. Water for People Water for

The United Nations World Water Development Report UNESCO PUBLISHING | BERGHAHN BOOKS Water for People, Water for Life | Executive Summary Table of Contents

Setting the Scene The World’s Water Crisis 4

Milestones 5

Signing Progress: Indicators Mark the Way 7

A Look at the World’s Freshwater Resources The Natural 8 Lead agencies: UNESCO and WMO

Challenges to Life and -Being Challenge 1: and the Right to 11 Lead agency: WHO Collaborating agency: UNICEF

Challenge 2: Protecting Ecosystems for People and 13 Lead agency: UNEP Collaborating agencies: UNECE / WHO / UNCBD / UNESCO / UNDESA / UNU

Challenge 3: : Competing Needs in an Urban Environment 15 Lead agencies: UN – HABITAT Collaborating agencies: WHO and UNDESA

Challenge 4: Securing for a Growing 17 Lead agency: FAO Collaborating agencies: WHO / UNEP / IAEA

Challenge 5: Promoting Cleaner Industry for Everyone’s Benefit 19 Lead agency: UNIDO Collaborating agencies: WHO and UNDESA

Challenge 6: Developing to Meet Development Needs 21 Lead agency: UNIDO Collaborating agencies: WHO / UNEP / Regional Commissions / World Bank Management Challenges: Stewardship and Governance Challenge 7: Mitigating Risk and Coping with Uncertainty 23 Lead agency: WMO Collaborating agencies: UNDESA / UNESCO / WHO / UNEP / ISDR / CCD / CBD / Regional Commissions

Challenge 8: Sharing Water: Defining a Common Interest 25 Lead agency: UNESCO Collaborating agencies: Regional Commissions

Challenge 9: Recognizing and Valuing the Many Faces of Water 27 Lead agency: UNDESA Collaborating agencies: UNECE and World Bank

Challenge 10: Ensuring the Knowledge : a Collective Responsibility 28 Lead agencies: UNESCO and WMO Collaborating agencies: UNDESA / IAEA / World Bank / UNEP / UNU

Challenge 11: Governing Water Wisely for Sustainable Development 30 Lead agency: UNDP Collaborating agencies: FAO / UNEP / UNCBD / Regional Commissions

Pilot Case Studies A Focus on Real-world Examples 32 ■ Chao Phraya River basin (Thailand) Office of Natural Committee of Thailand (ONWRC) ■ Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe basin (Estonia and Russia) Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, and the Ministry of the Environment of Estonia ■ Ruhuna basins (Sri Lanka) Ministry of and Water Management of Sri Lanka ■ Seine-Normandy basin (France) Water Agency of Seine-Normandy (AESN, Agence de l’Eau Seine-Normandie) ■ Senegal River basin (Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal) Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS, Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve du Sénégal) ■ Lake Titicaca basin (Bolivia and Peru) Binational Autonomous Authority of Lake Titicaca (ALT, Autoridad Binacional del Lago Titicaca Perú-Bolivia) ■ Greater (Japan) National Institute for and Management - Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and of Japan (NILIM-MLIT)

Fitting the Pieces Together 32 problem (and in many cases not sufficiently empowered to do much about it) means we fail to take the needed timely corrective actions and put the concepts to work. For humanity, the poverty of a large percentage of the world’s population is both a symptom and a cause of the water Setting crisis. Giving the poor better access to better

Executive Summary Executive managed water can make a big contribution | to poverty eradication, as The World Water the Scene Development Report (WWDR) will show. Such better management will enable us to deal with the growing per capita scarcity of water in many parts of the developing world. Solving the water crisis in its many The World’s aspects is but one of the several challenges Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water | 4 facing humankind as we confront life in this Water Crisis third millennium and it has to be seen in that context. We have to fit the water crisis intoan At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the overall scenario of problem-solving and conflict , with its diverse and abundant life forms, resolution. As pointed out by the Commission including over six billion , is facing a for Sustainable Development (CSD) in 2002: serious water crisis. All the signs suggest that it is getting worse and will continue to do so, Poverty eradication, changing unless corrective action is taken. This crisis is unsustainable patterns of one of water governance, essentially caused production and consumption by the ways in which we mismanage water. and protecting and managing But the real tragedy is the effect it has on the the natural base of everyday of poor people, who are blighted economic and social development by the burden of water-related disease, living in are overarching objectives of, degraded and often dangerous environments, and essential requirements for, struggling to get an education for their children sustainable development. and to earn a living, and to get enough to eat. Yet of all the social and crises The crisis is experienced also by the natural we humans face, the water crisis is the one that environment, which is groaning under the lies at the heart of our survival and that of our mountain of dumped onto it daily, planet Earth. and from overuse and misuse, with seemingly This first WWDR is a joint undertaking of little care for the future consequences and twenty-three United Nations (UN) agencies, future generations. In truth it is attitude and and is a major initiative of the new World behaviour problems that lie at the heart of the Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) crisis. We know most (but not all) of what the established in 2000, with its Secretariat problems are and a good deal about where they in the Paris headquarters of the United are. We have knowledge and expertise to begin Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural to tackle them. We have developed excellent Organization (UNESCO). This report is concepts, such as equity and . organized in six main sections: a background, Yet inertia at leadership level, and a world an evaluation of the world’s water resources, population not fully aware of the scale of the an examination of the needs for, the uses of and the demands on water (‘Challenges to Life and Well-Being’), a scrutiny of water management (‘Management Challenges’), Milestones seven representative case studies highlighting The latter part of the twentieth century up different water scenarios, and conclusions to the present has been the era of large world and annexes. The two ‘challenges’ sections conferences, not least on water, and the are based on the seven challenges identified sequence shall continue as 2003 embraces at the 2nd World Water Forum in 2000 not only the 3rd World Water Forum (in plus a further four challenges identified Japan) but is set to be the International Year of in the production of this report. The book Freshwater. These conferences, the preparations is documented throughout with revealing that preceded them and the discussions that figures, tables and global maps that include followed, have sharpened our perceptions country-based information, as well as boxes of the water crisis and have broadened our illustrating lessons learned. This Executive understanding of the needed responses. The Summary covers the key points of the report, Mar del Plata conference of 1977 initiated a and for the detailed synthesis, conclusions and

series of global activities in water. Of these, the Setting the Scene | recommendations, readers are referred to its International Water and 5 relevant sections. Decade (1981-1990) brought about a valuable extension of basic services to the poor. These experiences have shown us, by comparison, the magnitude of the present task of providing the huge expansion in basic and sanitation services needed today and in the years to come. The International Conference on Water and the Environment in Dublin in 1992 set out the four Dublin Principles that are relevant today (Principle 1: ‘ is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment’; Principle 2: ‘Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners and policymakers at all levels’; Principle 3: ‘Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water’; Principle 4: ‘Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an economic good’). The UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992 produced Agenda 21, which with its seven programme areas for action in freshwater, helped to mobilize change and heralded the beginning of the still very slow evolution in water management practices. Both of these conferences were seminal in that they placed water at the centre of the sustainable development debate. The 2nd World Water Forum in The Hague in 2000, and the International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn in 2001 continued this process. All of these various meetings set targets for improvements in water management, very few of which have been met. However, of all the major target-setting events of recent years, the UN Summit of 2000, which set the Millennium Development Goals for 2015, remains the most influential. Among the goals set forth, the following are the most 3. Protecting ecosystems – ensuring relevant to water: their integrity via sustainable water resource management Executive Summary Executive | 1. to halve the proportion of people 4. Sharing water resources living on less than 1 dollar per – promoting peaceful cooperation day; between different uses of 2. to halve the proportion of people water and between concerned suffering from hunger; states, through approaches 3. to halve the proportion of people such as sustainable river basin without access to safe drinking management

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water water; | 5. Managing risks – to provide 6 4. to ensure that all children, boys security from a range of water- and girls equally, can complete a related hazards course of primary education; 6. Valuing water – to manage water 5. to reduce maternal mortality in the light of its different values by 75 percent and under-five (economic, social, environmental, mortality by two thirds; cultural) and to move towards 6. to halt and reverse the spread of pricing water to recover the HIV/AIDS, malaria and the other costs of service provision, taking major diseases; account of equity and the needs of 7. to provide special assistance to the poor and vulnerable children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. 7. Governing water wisely – involving All of this needs to be achieved while the public and the interests of all protecting the environment from further stakeholders. degradation. The UN recognized that these A further four challenges were added to the aims, which focus on poverty, education and above seven to widen the scope of the analysis: health, cannot be achieved without adequate and equitable access to resources, and the most 8. Water and industry – promoting fundamental of these are water and energy. cleaner industry with respect to The Hague Ministerial Declaration of and the needs of March 2000 adopted seven challenges as the other users basis for future action. These have additionally 9. Water and energy – assessing been adopted as the basis for monitoring water’s key role in energy progress by the WWDR: production to meet rising energy demands 1. Meeting basic needs – for 10. Ensuring the knowledge base – so safe and sufficient water and that water knowledge becomes sanitation more universally available 2. Securing the food supply 11. Water and cities – recognizing – especially for the poor and the distinctive challenges of an vulnerable through the more increasingly urbanized world. effective use of water Signing Progress: It is these eleven challenges that structure the WWDR. Indicators Coming up to 2002 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Mark the Way UN Secretary General Kofi Annan identified WEHAB (Water and sanitation, Energy, Health, A key component of the WWAP is the Agriculture, ) as integral to a development of a set of indicators for the coherent international approach to sustainable water sector. These indicators must present development. Water is essential to success the complex phenomena of the water sector in each of these focus areas. The WSSD also in a meaningful and understandable way, to Setting the Scene added the 2015 target of reducing by half the decision-makers as well as to the public. They | proportion of people without sanitation. must establish benchmarks to help analyze 7 Thus 2002/2003 is a significant staging changes in the sector in space and time in post in humankind’s progress towards such a way as to help decision-makers to recognizing the vital importance of water to understand the importance of water issues, our future; an issue that now sits at or near the and involve them in promoting effective water top of the political agenda. governance. Good indicators help water sector professionals to step ‘outside the water box’, in order to take account of the broad social, political and economic issues affecting and affected by water. Furthermore, targets are essential to monitor progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals related to water. IndicatorIndicator development is a complex and slow process, requiring widespread development isconsultation. a complex New indicators and have to be tested slow process, requiringand modified in the widespreadlight of experience. consultation. New indicators have to be tested and modified in the light of experience. To date, the WWAP has agreed upon a methodological approach to water indicator development and has identified a range of indicators, through recommendations by the UN agencies participating in WWAP. A better understanding has been gained of the problems related to indicator development: data availability, and information scaling and aggregation from different sources. The specific challenges related to the production of water indicators include the slow progress of the water sector in adapting existing earth- systems modelling data into water resource assessments (e.g. greenhouse warming impacts on regional water resources) and a relatively poor understanding of how complex drainage systems function in relation to anthropogenic challenges in comparison to a good understanding of at the local scale. Further, the decline of measuring stations and systems for hydrology (a widespread international problem) limits good data Executive Summary Executive

| A Look at acquisition. However, this decline can be offset by the great monitoring opportunities offered by contemporary remote sensing capabilities the World’s and computerized data analysis capacity. There remains however an urgent need for a broad set of socio-economic variables to help quantify Freshwater the use of water. The conjunction of these Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | latter variables with the hydrographic variables | 8 9 can create two fundamental quantities – the Resources rate of water withdrawal/consumption and the available water supply. Together these produce a valuable indicator of relative water use and the ability of water resource systems to provide the services we need. Large uncertainties in The Natural estimates of global water withdrawals complicate good assessments of relative Water Cycle water use. Much work is needed to collect and Although water is the most widely occurring prepare the geophysical and socio-economic substance on earth, only 2.53 percent is data sets for future WWDRs. In addition freshwater while the remainder is water. to the of water supply, issues of Some two thirds of this freshwater is locked technological capacity to provide water service, up in and permanent cover. The population growth, levels of environmental available freshwater is distributed regionally as protection and health services, and investments shown in figure 1. in water infrastructure must be included in In addition to the accessible freshwater future analyses. At this point, we have made in lakes, rivers and , man-made a start on the long-term project to develop storage in reservoirs adds a further 8,000 3 a comprehensive set of user-friendly water cubic kilometres (km ). Water resources are indicators, which will build on the experience renewable (except some ), with and ongoing monitoring activities of Member huge differences in availability in different States and the UN agencies involved. parts of the world and wide variations in seasonal and annual in many places. Precipitation is the main source of water for all uses and for ecosystems. This precipitation is taken up by and , evaporates into the via , and runs off to the via rivers, and to lakes and . The water of evapotranspiration supports ,

Asia

North and Central America 8 % 13 %

36 % 60 %

15 % 8 %

South America 11 % 13 %

Australia 6 % and Oceania 26 % Challenges to Life and Well-being Life to Challenges | 9 5 % ‹1 %

Source: Figure 1: Website of the UNESCO/ Water availability versus IHP Regional Office of Latin America and population. the Caribbean. The global overview of water availability versus rainfed cultivated and grazing , and the population stresses ecosystems. We withdraw 8 percent of the total the continental disparities, annual renewable freshwater, and appropriate and in particular the pressure 26 percent of annual evapotranspiration and put on the Asian continent, 54 percent of accessible runoff. Humankind’s which supports more than half control of runoff is now global and we are the world’s population with significant players in the hydrological cycle. only 36 percent of the world’s Per capita use is increasing (with better water resources. lifestyles) and population is growing. Thus the percentage of appropriated water is increasing. Together with spatial and temporal variations in available water, the consequence is that water for all our uses is becoming scarce and leading to a water crisis. Freshwater resources are further reduced by pollution. Some 2 million of per day are disposed of within receiving waters, including industrial wastes and chemicals, human waste and agricultural wastes (fertilizers, pesticides and pesticide residues). Although reliable data on the extent and severity of pollution is incomplete, one estimate of global wastewater production is about 1,500 km3. Assuming that 1 of wastewater pollutes 8 of freshwater, the present burden of pollution may be up to 12,000 km3 worldwide. As ever, the poor are the worst affected, with 50 percent of the population of developing countries exposed to polluted water sources. The precise impact of change on water resources is uncertain. Precipitation will probably increase from latitudes 30oN and 30oS, but many tropical and sub-tropical will probably get lower and more erratic rainfall. With a discernable trend towards more frequent Executive Summary Executive | extreme weather conditions, it is likely that , droughts, mudslides, typhoons and cyclones will increase. Stream flows at low-flow periods may well decrease and water quality will undoubtedly worsen, because of increased pollution loads and concentrations and higher water temperatures. Recent estimates suggest Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | that climate change Recentwill account for aboutestimates | 10 20 percent of the increase in global water 11 scarcity.suggest that climate change will account for about 20 percent of the increase in global . We have made good progress in understanding the of water in its interaction with the biotic and abiotic environment. We have better estimates of climate change impacts on water resources. Over the years, our understanding of hydrological processes has enabled us to harvest water resources for our needs, reducing the risk of extreme situations. But pressures on the inland water system are increasing with population growth and economic development. Critical challenges lie ahead in coping with progressive water shortages and . By the middle of this century, at worst 7 billion people in sixty countries will be water-scarce, at best 2 billion people in forty-eight countries. Challenges to Life and Well-Being Executive Summary Executive | Challenge 1 Basic Needs Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 10 and the Right 11 Vaccination is not available for most water- to Health related diseases, including malaria, dengue, and gastro-intestinal infections. Insecticide Water-related diseases are among the most resistance has undermined the effectiveness of common causes of illness and death, affecting disease vector control programmes, and there mainly the poor in developing countries. is growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics Water-borne diseases causing gastro-intestinal and of parasites to other drugs. However, illness (including diarrhoea) are caused by at a domestic level, access to safe drinking drinking contaminated water; vector-borne water, sanitation that stops contaminants diseases (e.g. malaria, schistosomiasis) are from reaching sources of , plus passed on by the insects and snails that breed hand- and careful food handling in aquatic ecosystems; water-washed diseases are, collectively, key tools in fighting gastro- (e.g. scabies, trachoma) are caused by bacteria intestinal illness. And improved water or parasites that take hold when there is management practices have great potential to insufficient water for basic (washing, reduce the vector-borne disease burden. , etc.). In 2000, the estimated mortality Presently, 1.1 billion people lack access rate due to water sanitation hygiene-associated to improved water supply and 2.4 billion to diarrhoeas and some other water/sanitation- improved sanitation. In the vicious poverty/ associated diseases (schistosomiasis, trachoma, ill-health cycle, inadequate water supply and intestinal helminth infections) was 2,213,000. sanitation are both underlying cause and There were an estimated 1 million deaths outcome: invariably, those who lack adequate due to malaria. Worldwide, over 2 billion and affordable water supplies are the poorest people were infected with schistosomes and in society. If improved water supply and basic -transmitted helminths, of whom 300 sanitation were extended to the present-day million suffered serious illness. The majority ‘unserved’, it is estimated that the burden of of those affected by water-related mortality infectious diarrhoeas would be reduced by and morbidity are children under five. The some 17 percent annually; if universal piped, tragedy is that this disease burden is largely well-regulated water supply and full sanitation preventable. were achieved, this would reduce the burden by some 70 percent annually. Analysis of the cost effectiveness of water interventions Europe suggests further that: Latin America 2% and Caribbean 6% 1. Disinfection of water with tablets at the point of use and safe storage, combined with Africa 27% limited hygiene education, is the biggest health benefit at the lowest incremental cost; 2. Disinfection of water at the point 65% of use is consistently the most cost-effective intervention. In addition, improved hand-washing Executive Summary Executive

| Water supply, is also highly effective. distribution of unserved populations Collectively, these results point to the need for a policy shift in lower-income countries towards better household water-quality Europe Latin America 2% management, coupled with improved and Caribbean individual and family hygiene, as well as 5% the continued expansion of water supply Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 12 Africa and sanitation coverage, linked to upgraded 13 13% service levels, that ensure reliable supplies and acceptable water quality. The incorporation of sound, health-based practices for water resource systems should Asia 80% thus include water-quality management in source protection, and treatment and distribution of drinking water, using Health Impact Assessments (HIA) on all development Sanitation, projects to reduce the threat of vector-borne distribution of unserved populations disease. Improvements in irrigation techniques – lining , using seasonal wetting and drying cycles, avoiding standing and slow Figure 2: running water, and educating farmers to Water supply and sanitation distribution the risk of disease – would all make a big of unserved population. difference. In addition, higher-level practices Asia shows the highest number of people can also contribute, such as making the unserved by either water supply or sanitation; different water-use sectors responsible for yet it is important to note that proportionally, the adverse health effects of their projects, this group is larger in Africa due to the having regular evaluations of the costs of difference in population size between the two continents.

Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 2002. Updated in September 2002. ill-health from water resource development, and evaluating the cost-effectiveness of water supply and water management interventions Challenge 2 versus conventional health interventions. To the above should be added the following Protecting sound health-based practices: improving personal protection via oral rehydration, using Ecosystems insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets, urging health workers to promote basic sanitation for People and improved hygiene behaviour, and mobilizing communities to improve drinking water facilities and to learn about drinking- and Planet water contamination and safe drinking Water is an essential part of any ecosystem, water storage.

Executive Summary Executive both in quantitative and qualitative terms, | Most of theMost above is neither of complexthe nor and reduced water quantity and quality both expensive to achieve but will nonetheless have serious negative impacts on ecosystems. above requireis neither major policy shifts complex by governments to The environment has a natural absorptive, implement. The potential benefits are so great nor expensive to achieve self-cleansing capacity. However, if this is that the political will to introduce new policies exceeded, biodiversity is lost, livelihoods must be found. but will nonetheless are affected, natural food sources (e.g. fish)

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water are damaged and high clean-up costs result. and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 12 require major policy Environmental damage is leading to increased 13 shifts by governments to natural disasters, with floods increasing where deforestation and soil are preventing implement. The potential natural water . The draining of wetlands for agriculture (50 percent lost in benefits are so great the last century) and the appropriation of evapotranspiration (by land clearance) lead to that the political will to further perturbation of natural systems and will cause profound impacts on the future introduce new policies availability of water. And it is yet again the poor who are most affected by such impacts must be found. – they live in marginal areas, those afflicted by floods, pollution and scarce water supplies as well as the loss of valuable natural sources of food. We have come to accept two important concepts in the past decade: firstly, that ecosystems not only have their own intrinsic value, but also provide humankind with essential services; secondly, that the sustainability of water resources requires participatory, ecosystem-based management. Table 1 summarizes the pressures to which freshwater ecosystems are subjected and the potential impacts on systems at risk. Measures of ecosystem health include: water quality indicators (physico-chemical and biological), hydrological information and biological assessment, including the degree of biodiversity. Although there are various problems in acquiring the relevant data, it is clear that protection; species protection programmes, etc. inland aquatic ecosystems have problems. Recognition of these environmental The stream flows of around 60 percent of the challenges has increased interest in and world’s largest rivers have been interrupted by momentum towards ecological restoration by hydraulic structures. Well-studied commercial government institutions and non-governmental have declined dramatically, through organizations (NGOs). Available data points habitat degradation, invasive species and to some progress in aspects of biodiversity over-harvesting. Worldwide, of the creatures conservation and use in inland waters, associated with inland waters, 24 percent including progress in strategic planning and of mammals and 12 percent of birds are target setting. It is expected that restoration threatened, as are a third of the 10 percent of ecosystems will become a central activity of fish species studied in detail so far. Inland in environmental management in the future, water biodiversity is widely in decline, mainly including assisting system recovery by from habitat disturbance, which can be taken alleviating pollution, and by restoring and Executive Summary Executive | as evidence of declining ecosystem condition. reconnecting wetlands and marshes. Measures to protect ecosystems include: policy and strategy initiatives to set targets and standards, and to promote integrated land/water use management; environmental education; regular reporting of environmental quality and changes; flow maintenance Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | in rivers; site protection and water source | 14 15

Table 1: Pressures of freshwater ecosystems.

Human activity Potential impact Function at risk

Population and Increases water abstraction and acquisition of Virtually all ecosystem functions consumption growth cultivated land through drainage; increases including habitat, production and requirement for all other activities with consequent regulation functions risks

Infrastructure Loss of integrity alters timing and quantity of river Water quantity and quality, habitats, development flows, water temperature, and sediment floodplain fertility, fisheries, delta (, dikes, levees, transport and thus delta replenishment, blocks fish economies diversions etc.) migrations

Land conversion Eliminates key components of aquatic environment; Natural control, habitats for loss of functions; integrity; habitat and biodiversity; fisheries and waterfowl, recreation, alters runoff patterns; inhibits natural recharge, water supply, water quantity and fills water bodies with quality

Overharvesting Depletes living resources, ecosystem functions and Food production, water supply, water and exploitation biodiversity ( depletion, collapse of quality and water quantity fisheries)

Introduction from introduced species; alters Food production, habitat, of exotic species production and nutrient cycling; and causes loss of recreation biodiversity among native species

Release of pollutants Pollution of water bodies alters chemistry and Water supply, habitat, water quality, to land, or water ecology of rivers, lakes and wetlands; greenhouse food production; climate change emissions produce dramatic changes in runoff may also impact , dilution and rainfall patterns capacity, transport, flood control

A wide range of human uses and transformations of freshwater or terrestrial environments have

the potential to alter, sometimes irreversibly, the integrity of freshwater ecosystems. Source: IUCN, 2000. of wastewater, the management of rainfall runoff (including ) and prevention of flooding, and the sustainable use of water resources. To the above must be added cooperation with other administrations that share the river basin or groundwater source. Cities often take water from outside their Citiesadministrative often boundaries takeand their waste downstream, thereby affecting other water from outsideusers. their administrative boundaries and discharge their waste downstream, thereby affecting

Executive Summary Executive For monitoring purposes, the World | other users. Health Organization/United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO/UNICEF) Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report specifies reasonable access to water as at least 20 litres per person per day, from an improved source within 1 km of a user’s dwelling. This does not, however, represent a definition of Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 14 adequacy of access, but rather a benchmark 15 for monitoring purposes. For example, in a densely populated squatter community Challenge 3 with 100,000 inhabitants, it certainly is not reasonable. The reliability and regularity of Human activity Potential impact Function at risk Cities: many urban water supplies in lower-income countries is a big problem, with poor quality Population and Increases water abstraction and acquisition of Virtually all ecosystem functions consumption growth cultivated land through wetland drainage; increases including habitat, production and Competing water and the high price of water when bought requirement for all other activities with consequent regulation functions from street water vendors. On the sanitation risks Needs in front, shared toilets and pit latrines are not Infrastructure Loss of integrity alters timing and quantity of river Water quantity and quality, habitats, really adequate in urban areas. They are often development flows, water temperature, nutrient and sediment floodplain fertility, fisheries, delta badly maintained and not cleaned. Children (dams, dikes, levees, transport and thus delta replenishment, blocks fish economies an Urban find them hard to use and the cost of use for diversions etc.) migrations a poor family may be prohibitive. So, many urban dwellers resort to open defecation or Land conversion Eliminates key components of aquatic environment; Natural flood control, habitats for Environment loss of functions; integrity; habitat and biodiversity; fisheries and waterfowl, recreation, defecation in a bag or wrapping, which is then alters runoff patterns; inhibits natural recharge, water supply, water quantity and Presently 48 percent of the world’s population dumped. fills water bodies with silt quality lives in towns and cities; by 2030 this will rise Accurate data is limited on the quality to about 60 percent. The logic of urbanization and availability of water supply and sanitation Overharvesting Depletes living resources, ecosystem functions and Food production, water supply, water and exploitation biodiversity (groundwater depletion, collapse of quality and water quantity is clear – those countries that urbanized most provision in cities in many lower-income fisheries) in the past forty years are generally those with countries. It appears that official national data the largest economic growth. Urban areas, provided for various studies may overstate Introduction Competition from introduced species; alters Food production, wildlife habitat, of exotic species production and nutrient cycling; and causes loss of recreation generally, provide the economic resources to the provision of improved water supplies and biodiversity among native species install water supply and sanitation, but they improved sanitation, and the actual situation also concentrate wastes. Where good waste may be worse than present figures indicate. Release of pollutants Pollution of water bodies alters chemistry and Water supply, habitat, water quality, management is lacking, urban areas are among What is clear is that the health gains from to land, air or water ecology of rivers, lakes and wetlands; greenhouse food production; climate change the world’s most life-threatening environments. the provision of improved water supply and gas emissions produce dramatic changes in runoff may also impact hydropower, dilution and rainfall patterns capacity, transport, flood control Good water management is complex. sanitation are like quantum leaps, with the It requires the integrated management of water biggest gains in the transition from no service supplies for domestic and industrial needs, at all to basic services, and then service the control of pollution and the treatment extended to individual households. To provide better water supplies, sanitation and flood management for cities, a range of actions is needed. Competent water utilities are foremost among these, whether public ones that have been corporatized or private ones, both of which must be subject to good regulation. The application of sound city planning and zoning regulations to control industrial and housing developments, together with the control of water abstractions and polluting effluents, is also essential. Good watershed management, to minimize ecological disturbance and make better use of water resources, is vital. Creating an enabling Executive Summary Executive | environment for communities and NGOs to make their own water supply and sanitation provision, with the proviso that these do not cause problems elsewhere in the system, will make a big contribution in peri-urban areas. However, problems of weak local government and the low incomes of many urban dwellers Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | will complicate the achievement of these | 16 objectives. 17

House or yard connection for water Figure 3: Connected to sewer The proportion of households in major cities connected to piped water and 100 sewers. These are based on information provided 80 by 116 cities. In no was there a representative sample of large cities, although the figures for each region are 60 likely to be indicative of average levels % of provision for major cities in that region. If adequate provision for sanitation 40 in large cities is taken to mean a toilet connected to a sewer, then this figure 20 indicates there is a significant lack of adequate provision in cities throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and the 0 Caribbean and Oceania. Africa Asia Latin Oceania Europe America Source: WHO and UNICEF, 2000. & Caribbean by 14 percent in the next thirty years as the area of irrigated land expands by a further 20 percent. By 2030, 60 percent of all land with irrigation potential will be in use. Of the ninety-three developing countries surveyed by FAO, ten are already using 40 percent of their renewable freshwater for irrigation, the level at which difficult choices can arise between agriculture and other users. By 2030, South Asia will have reached this 40 percent level, and Near East/North Africa will be using about Challenge 4 58 percent. However, for sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and East Asia, irrigation water Securing Food demand will be below the critical threshold Executive Summary Executive | although at local level serious problems may for a Growing arise. Shallow groundwater is an important source of irrigation water but over-pumping of aquifers, pollution from agro-chemicals and the World of groundwaters are all problem areas. Agricultural chemicals (fertilizers and Population pesticides) are a major cause of water pollution Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | generally, the from fertilizers causing | 16 The main source of the world’s food supply is severe problems of eutrophication in 17 agriculture, which includes crops, livestock, waters worldwide. aquaculture and forestry. Unmanaged earth An important source of irrigation water systems can feed some 500 million people, so is wastewater, with some 10 percent of total systematic agriculture is needed for the current irrigated land in developing countries using world population of 6 billion. In addition, at the local level, agriculture is the mainstay of many rural economies. Providing the 2,800 calories per person per day needed for Table 2: Water requirement equivalent of main adequate nourishment requires an average of food production. 1,000 cubic metres (m3) of water. Most agriculture is rainfed, but irrigated Product Unit Equivalent water in cubic metres land accounts for about one fifth of the total arable area in developing countries. Some Bovine, cattle head 4,000

15 percent of agricultural water is used Sheeps and goats head 500 by irrigation, totalling about 2,000-2,500 cubic kilometres (km3) per year. In 1998, in Meat bovine fresh kilogram 15 developing countries, irrigated land produced Meat sheep fresh kilogram 10 two fifths of all crops and three fifths of all cereals. Cereals are the most important crop, Meat poultry fresh kilogram 6 providing 56 percent of calories consumed. Cereals kilogram 1.5 crops are the next most important. Developed Citrus fruit kilogram 1 countries account for about 25 percent of the world’s irrigated areas. Since populations there Palm oil kilogram 2 grow slowly, most irrigation development will Pulses, and tubers kilogram 1 be in the developing world where population Source: FAO, 1997b. growth is strong. The WWDR provides a country-by-country breakdown of key This table gives examples of water required per unit indicators of national food supply. of major food products, including livestock, which Presently, irrigation accounts for 70 percent consume the most water per unit. Cereals, oil crops of all water withdrawals. Amounts will increase and pulses, roots and tubers consume far less water. this resource. It provides direct benefits to by 2030, using technology and improved farmers who are short of water, it can improve irrigation water management practice. This will and reduce contamination of also help to alleviate the problems of vector- what would otherwise be the downstream borne disease associated with irrigation. Much receiving waters. For irrigation use, wastewater needed reform of the management of irrigation should receive treatment, but in lower-income water to improve performances, equity of Executive Summary Executive

| countries, raw is often used directly, for allocation, involvement of stakeholders and which the associated risks include the exposure water use efficiency, is underway in many of irrigation workers and food consumers countries like Mexico, China and Turkey. The to bacterial, amoebic, viral and nematode process includes structural and managerial parasites, as well as organic, chemical and changes aiming at improving service to heavy contaminants. Crops grown using irrigation water users, including in many cases untreated wastewater cannot be exported and elements of transfer of authority to water users’

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water access to local markets, at least partially, is associations. Progress is slow, however, and and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 18 restricted. The use of treated wastewaters in results have been somewhat mixed. 19 urban areas is expected to grow in the future, Despite all the foregoing, 777 million for irrigating trees, parks and golf courses. people in developing countries are under- Trade remains marginal compared to nourished and the target of halving this overall domestic production in the food sector will not be met before 2030. This situation but is growing. Developing countries imported has arisen more from national conflict than 39 million tons of cereals in the mid-1970s. from water insecurity. In the last decades, This is expected to rise to 198 million tons in agricultural production has grown faster than 2015 and 265 million tons in 2030. Access the world’s population and there is no evidence to export markets is one key to sustainable that this should change. Overall, the message development for agriculturally dominated from agriculture is cautiously optimistic. economies. Irrigation development costs range typically between US$1,000 and US$10,000 per hectare. Future total annual investment costs worldwide are estimated at US$25- 30 billion, including expansion of irrigated areas, rehabilitation and modernization of existing systems, and provision of extra water storage.There is a strong positive link between investment in irrigation, poverty There is a strong alleviation positive link between and food investment in irrigation, poverty alleviation security.and food security. In India, 69 percent of people in non-irrigated areas are poor; in irrigated areas this figure falls to 26 percent. Irrigation water use efficiency, presently about 38 percent worldwide, is expected to improve slowly to an average of 42 percent Domestic use 8%

Industrial use 22% Agricultural use Challenge 5 70% Competing water uses Promoting (world)

Domestic use Executive Summary Executive | Cleaner 11% Industry for Agricultural use Everyone’s 30% Industrial use 59%

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water Benefit and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 18 19 Industry, an essential engine of economic growth and critical to the achievement of the Competing water uses UN Millennium Development Goals, requires (high-income countries) adequate resources of good quality water as a key . Global annual water use by Domestic use industry is expected to rise from an estimated 8% Industrial 3 3 725 km in 1995 to about 1,170 km by 2025, use by which time industrial water usage will 10% represent 24 percent of all water abstractions. Much of this increase will be in developing

countries now experiencing rapid industrial Agricultural development. Figure 4 shows industrial use 82% water usage per region, compared with other main uses. Indicators of industry impacts on water Competing water uses are not well developed, often relying on (low- and middle-income incomplete, indirect or inconsistent data. In countries) order to encourage the proper valuation of water by industry, an attempt is made in the Figure 4: WWDR to link industrial water consumption Competing water uses for main to the manufacturing value addition achieved. income groups of countries. The projected growth in industrial demand Industrial use of water increases with for water can only be met by integrating country income, going from 10 percent for improved supply-side considerations with low- and middle-income countries enhanced demand-side management at to 59 percent for high-income countries. government and enterprise levels. Demand- Source: World Bank, 2001. side initiatives play an important role in increasing the water efficiency of industrial processes, and lowering the pollutant load of effluents discharged by industry. Training and education in demand-side management, combined with technology transfer, can provide both environmental benefits and the improved economic benefits and the improved economic of performanceenterprises. of enterprises. This encourages industry participation and breaks the prevailing paradigm linking industrial growth Within industry, water, often in large to environmental damage. To promote such Executive Summary Executive | quantities, is most commonly used in the initiatives at local and regional levels, the manufacturing process – for washing, , United Nations Industrial Development cooling, etc. – and then returned to local water Organization (UNIDO) and the United systems. Water discharged by industries may Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) be of poor quality and, unless adequately have established a network of more than treated, threatens the surface and groundwater twenty National Cleaner Production Centres resources into which it is discharged. Industry providing technical assistance to enterprises in Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | may pose a chronic threat to resources by the developing countries around the world. | 20 21 continuous discharge of effluents, or an acute Further action is required at the global threat when a catastrophic failure generates an level to develop and refine appropriate and intense pollution event over a short . robust indicators of water consumption Damage to water resources by industry and quality, and to support the continuing activity is not restricted to ‘local’ freshwater collection of reliable data. Assistance is needed resources. The increasing concentration of to build these indicators into regional and local population and industry in coastal zones is water management and to integrate this with resulting in the impoverishment of coastal industrial, economic and investment planning. habitats and the people that depend on them. The promotion of demand-side initiatives at In addition, air emissions of, for example, enterprise level is needed to provide positive persistent organic pollutants, may pollute incentives for industry engagement in efforts to waters far removed from industrial centres. meet targets set at the 2nd World Water Forum Many countries have adopted the polluter and the Millennium Development Goals. pays and precautionary principles to address these issues but they may be unwilling to hinder industrial and economic performance or lack the resources to monitor and enforce regulations. This is coupled, in many middle- and lower-income countries, with a lack of awareness among industry managers of how water is used in their enterprise and with the use of obsolete, inefficient or inappropriate technology. These factors represent barriers to efficient water use management at enterprise level. In many industries, the bulk of effluent discharge represents excess raw material that can be captured for re-use thereby reducing new production inputs and costs. Training and education in demand-side management, combined with technology transfer, can provide both environmental Table 3: Deployment of hydropower

Location Market area Current Estimated deployment deployment in 1995 in 2010 (TWh/year) (TWh/year)

World Large hydro 2,265 3,990 Small hydro 115 220 Total hydro 2,380 4,210

EU + EFTA Large hydro 401.5 443 Small hydro 40 50 Total hydro 441.5 493 CEE Large hydro 57.5 83 Small hydro 4.5 16 Total hydro 62 99 Executive Summary Executive | CIS Large hydro 160 388 Challenge 6 Small hydro 4 12 Total hydro 164 400 Developing NAFTA Large hydro 635 685 Small hydro 18 25 Total hydro 653 710 Energy OECD Pacific Large hydro 131 138

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water Small hydro 0.7 3 and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 20 to Meet Total hydro 131.7 141 21 Mediterranean Large hydro 35.5 72 Small hydro 0.5 0.7 Development Total hydro 36 72.7 Africa Large hydro 65.4 147 Small hydro 1.6 3 Needs Total hydro 67 150 Middle East Large hydro 24.8 49 Water is not the only source of energy; in Small hydro 0.2 1 some parts of the world significant energy Total hydro 25 50 is supplied by fossil fuels, Asia Large hydro 291 1,000 Small hydro 42 100 and . Water is vital for energy Total hydro 333 1,100 production in many areas, but its two Latin America Large hydro 461.5 990 foremost applications are the generation of Small hydro 3.5 10 and use for cooling purposes Total hydro 465 1,000 in thermal electrical power stations. Other Source: Water Power and Construction, 1995 and International uses, excluding hydropower, include tidal Journal on Hydropower and Dams, 1997. power, wave energy and geothermal sources. Despite the large amounts of electricity EU + EFTA  European Union & European Free Trade Association generated worldwide and the crucial role of CEE  Central and Eastern Europe energy in sustainable development, access to CIS  Ex-USSR countries electricity is very uneven worldwide. Some NAFTA  , Canada, Mexico 2 billion people have no electricity at all, OECD Pacific  Australia, Japan, New Zealand  1 billion people use uneconomic electricity Mediterranean Turkey, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta Asia  All Asia excluding former USSR supplies (dry cell batteries) or candles or kerosene, and 2.5 billion people in developing This table shows the current and projected deployment countries have little access to commercial of hydropower throughout the world. It is set to expand in electricity services. all regions, in particular in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Yet electricity contributes to poverty where the potential for development is greatest. alleviation in many ways. It is essential for livelihoods that involve small-scale enterprises, for improving medical services, including powering equipment and the refrigeration of vaccines and medicines. It can extend the length of the working day, providing lighting for study and activities. It provides power to water for domestic, agricultural and small industrial functions, and for water Executive Summary Executive

| treatment. It substitutes for fuels used for cooking and eating (currently 80 percent of all household fuel consumption in developing countries is from biomass), making for a cleaner, healthier, domestic environment. For thermal , the Presently, hydropower supplies at least greatest use of water is for cooling the turbines 50 percent of electricity production in sixty-six countries, and at least 19 percent in twenty-

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water in power plants. Thermal power plants are | 22 the most efficient users of cooling water four countries. 23 (they re-use the cooling water several times) Small-scale stand-alone (not connected and produce much less to the grid) hydropower schemes, defined as than ‘once-through’ generating plants. generating less than 10 megawatts, with Although large quantities of water are used fewer of the problems of large schemes but in power station cooling, most is returned to without the benefit of bulk power, can be of the watershed, with little contamination or great benefit in the more rural and remote . areas. China alone has an estimated 60,000 Hydroelectric power provided 19 percent small hydropower schemes. Worldwide, small of total electricity production in 2001 (2,740 hydropower development is expected to grow tera watt per hour [Twh]), with a further by a further 60 percent by 2010. 377 Twh under construction or at the planning In some highly arid regions of the world, stage. There still remains between 4,000 and for example the states of the Persian Gulf, 7,500 Twh of untapped hydroelectric energy is needed for water production. In this potential. Only one third of the total sites region there is high reliance on water produced deemed economically feasible have so far been by . In addition, especially in arid developed. zones, there is reliance on groundwater that The use of hydropower can reduce the requires energy for its . emissions of greenhouse and other atmospheric pollutants from thermal power plants, as well as minimize the pollution associated with the mining of the fossil fuels needed for them. To date, developed countries are exploiting aboutTo 70 percentdate, of their developed countries electricity potential, whereas in developing countries,are exploiting the figure is only 15 percent.about 70 percent of their electricity potential, whereas in developing countries, the figure is only 15 percent. Management Challenges: Stewardship and Governance

Landslide & avalanche 9% 2% Executive Summary Executive |

Water-related Flood epidemic 50% Challenge 7 28% Drought Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Governance Stewardship Management Challenges: | 11% | 22 Mitigating 23 Type of water-related Risk and natural disasters Coping with Americas Asia 20% Uncertainty 35% Europe 13% Between 1991 and 2000, the number of Africa Oceania people affected by natural disasters rose from 29% 3% 147 million per year to 211 million per year. In the same period, more than 665,000 people died in 2,557 natural disasters, of which Distribution of water-related 90 percent were water-related. Of these water- natural disasters related disasters, floods represented about 50 percent, water-borne and vector-borne diseases about 28 percent, and droughts Figure 5: 11 percent. Floods caused 15 percent of deaths Types and distribution of water-related and droughts 42 percent of all deaths from all natural disasters, 1990–2001. natural disasters. Recorded economic losses More than 2,200 major and minor from natural catastrophes have grown from water-related disasters occurred in US$30 billion in 1990 to US$70 billion in the world between 1990 and 2001. 1999. These figures understate the true scale Asia and Africa were the most affected of loss, which is believed to be double or more continents, with floods accounting than the recorded figures. While the figures for half of these disasters. indicate the economic impact of disasters Source: CRED, 2002. today, they understate the impact on future social costs, e.g. loss of livelihood, etc. The above indicates a trend of increasing natural disasters that disproportionately affect lower-income countries. Some 97 percent of all there has been real progress in the proactive natural disaster deaths occurred in developing and reactive strength of the emergency countries. The number of hydrometeorological response communities. disasters (floods and droughts) has more than Droughts, for which the onset is slow, doubled since 1996. The very poor, the elderly, are also associated with significant human women and children are worst affected. As and socio-economic losses. They are often more and more people live on marginal land, claimed to be a result of lack of distribution, there is increasingly greater risk from flooding know-how, and human and capital resources or drought. in poorer regions. Mitigation can include: Worldwide, there is a shortage of effective changing land-use practices, irrigation from disaster preparedness and mitigation methods, reservoirs or , crop insurance, relief due to the fact that risk reduction is not an programmes, protecting priority users, etc. integral part of water resource management, Longer-term measures include changing crop as it has mainly been viewed as a technical types, building reservoirs, building security Executive Summary Executive | problem, unrelated to the factors that at local and family level, and maybe even force people to live in risky areas. Lack of population relocation. Recent years have seen political will has also been a factor. However, improvements in seasonal and long-term appropriate risk-mitigation investment, and climate prediction, which facilitates drought- the redirection of resources into prevention, management practices. offers significant economic benefits, as well as reduction in loss of life, improvements Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water | in welfare and social stability. A range of 24 economic, institutional, legal and commercial 25 factors are constraining more effective risk management. There is a clear link between water resources, variability and risk, and investment is needed to mitigate the risks, not least because risk constrains willingness to invest; and there are large opportunity costs of countries adapting to the effects of water- induced shocks on their economies. Risk management has three aspects: assessingRisk the risks, management implementing both has three structural and non-structural measures to reduceaspects: risks, sharing assessing risk via insurance the risks, implementingprogrammes and other risk transfer both structural and non-structuralmechanisms. measures to reduce risks, sharing risk via insurance programmes and other risk transfer mechanisms. In the case of floods, the hazard potential is related to the magnitude and frequency of floods. It is possible to predict the probability of occurrence and to forecast flood events in real time. Mitigation measures include structural means (dams, dikes, etc.) and non- structural means (land-use planning, flood forecasting, response plans, etc.). But because floods like other disasters are not preventable, and groundwater are inextricably linked and related to and management. Measures used to allocate water between competing uses include: national strategy and/or legislation on intersectoral allocations, tariff disincentives and targeted subsidies, abstraction management, application and enforcement of water-quality objectives, reservoir operating rules, multi-use reservoir management, multireservoir system management and reservoir compensation flow releases. There are presently 261 international river basins, and 145 nations have territory

Executive Summary Executive Challenge 8 | in shared basins. Rarely do the boundaries of the watersheds coincide with existing Sharing administrative boundaries. Progress is being made through appropriate legislation and Water: institutions. Despite the potential problem, experience suggests that cooperation, rather Defining a than conflict, is likely in shared basins. Figure Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Governance Stewardship Management Challenges: | 6, based on an analysis over fifty years, | 24 25 Common shows that 1,200 cooperative interactions have occurred in shared basins, versus 500 conflictual ones, and there were no formal Interest . This study has pinpointed the following indicators of potential conflict: Water has to be shared in two ways: between its different uses (energy, cities, 1. internationalized basins that food, environment, etc.), and between users include the management (administrative regions or countries sharing a structures of newly independent river basin or ). Many regions, cities and states; countries rely on upstream users for water flow 2. basins that include unilateral and any downstream user will be dependent on project developments and the the action of the upstream users. Conversely, absence of cooperative regimes; certain countries may be constrained by the 3. basins where states show hostility demands by downstream countries. Equitable over non-water issues. and sustainable management of shared water resources requires flexible, holistic In the past fifty years, 200 non-navigation institutions, able to respond to hydrological treaties for international watercourses have variations, changes in socio-economic needs, been signed, but remain weak for the following societal values, and, particularly in the reasons: lack of water allocations, poor case of international watercourses, political water quality provision, lack of monitoring/ regime changes. The strategic response to enforcement/conflict resolution mechanisms, the above scenario is known as Integrated and failure to include all riparian states. Recent Water Resources Management (IWRM) and thinking has focused on sharing the benefits of the integration can be considered in two the water, rather than the water itself. ways: the natural system and the human Progress in managing transboundary system. Integration has to occur both within aquifers lags far behind, despite the massive and between these two categories, taking volumes of often high-quality water involved account of variability in time and space. It is (estimated at 23,400,000 km3 compared understood that the watershed is the unit of with the 42,800 km3 in rivers). A lack of management in IWRM, where international will and finance to collect the 500 Figure 6: 450 Events related to transboundary basins. 400 Although transboundary water resources can engender hostility, 350 the record of cooperation is vastly 300 superior to that of acute conflict, that is to say, water is much more 250 a vector of cooperation than a

200 source of conflict. Source: Wolf et al., forthcoming. 150

100 Executive Summary Executive | 50

0 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

-7 Formal 1 Mild verbal support -6 Extensive military acts 2 Offical verbal support -5 Small-scale military acts 3 Cultural, scientific agreement/support Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water

| -4 Political/military hostile acts 4 Non-military economic, technological & Industrial agreement 26 -3 Diplomatic/economic hostile acts 27 -2 Strong/official verbal hostility 5 Military, economic & strategic support -1 Mild/unofficial verbal hostility 6 International water treaty 0 Neutral, non-significant acts 7 Unification into one nation

necessary information means that progress in evaluating groundwater resources and producing appropriate systems for collective management is at a very early stage. Some established basin management structures have proved to be resilient over time and they provide us with valuable lessons on the management of transboundary waters. More likely than violent conflict is the worsening water quality or water quantity (or both), which can damage the internal stability of a nation or region and increase riparian tension. There is a need to ensure adaptable management structures, with equitable distribution of benefits and a detailed conflict resolution mechanism. Challenge 9 Recognizing and Valuing the Many Faces Table 4: Comparison of water pricing in developed of Water countries. Executive Summary Executive | Much progress has been made in the last Country $/M3 decade in understanding that water has not Germany $1.91 only an economic value, but social, religious, cultural and environmental values as well, and Denmark $1.64 that these are often interdependent. The equity Belgium $1.54 concept in water use and management is well $1.25 Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Governance Stewardship Management Challenges:

| established, as is acceptance of maximizing | 26 its value among many uses, while promoting France $1.23 27 equitable access and adequate supplies. It of Great Britain $1.18 is understood that the needs of vulnerable and Northern Ireland groups, children, local communities, people Italy $0.76 living in poverty and the environment must be fully considered when using economic Finland $0.69 instruments for allocating water. We have Ireland $0.63 learned to distinguish between the value of Sweden $0.58 water (benefit to beneficiaries), the price of water (charges to consumers) and the cost of Spain $0.57 supplying water (capital and operating costs of U.S.A $0.51 water delivery systems). Water valuation, as an integral component Australia $0.50 of water resource management, has roles in South Africa $0.47 water allocation, demand management and Canada $0.40 financing investments. However complications arise because economic tools cannot accurately Source: Watertech Online, 2001. estimate social/religious values, economic and Note: These figures are based on supply for consumers in offices environmental , or the intrinsic occupying 4,180 square metres of city space and using 10,000 m³/year. economic value of water: most current Developed countries show a wide range of variation valuation methods are too complex, there in water pricing, ranging from the lowest cost is little operational application of valuation in Canada to costs five times as high in Germany. methods, and water services are heavily subsidized even in developed countries. The water sector’s investment needs and funding requirements for water and sanitation have been estimated to range from US$20-60 billion, a lot more than is currently available. Although it is considered essential to involve the private sector in water resource management, it should be seen as a financial catalyst – not so much a precondition – for project development. Because valuing water includes social and environmental priorities as well as cost recovery, control of the assets should remain in the handscontrol of the government of the assets shouldand users. remain in the hands of the government and users. In North America and Europe, water charges are widely based on full cost recovery, whereas in the lower-income countries charges are often based on running costs alone, for both water supply and irrigation. The problem

Executive Summary Executive of irrigation water cost recovery is often | caused by poor market prices for produce and variations in these prices between different crops. Problems in the pricing of water reflect those encountered in valuing water as listed above, in addition to the fact that: Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 28 • the different economic sectors of water use Challenge 10 29 (food, cities, industry, etc.) may all be valued differently; Ensuring the • the tradition of paying for water is not well established everywhere; Knowledge • it is not always practicable or economically feasible to measure actual consumption, making pricing approximate; Base: a • the polluter pays principle often cannot be applied because of uncontrollable (legal or Collective illegal) water pollution. Responsibility Providing financial subsidies to aid access of the poor to water is considered a ‘pro-poor’ Knowledge is accepted as one of the keys strategy. Although not always successful, some to development, improved livelihoods, of the better water tariff structures can aid the environmental participation and stronger poor, as can the initial amount of free water democracies. Generating and disseminating and social security initiatives, such as the knowledge – to expand education, facilitate distribution of water stamps. research, build capacity and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor – needs political will, investment and international cooperation. The knowledge base for the is exceptionally broad, embracing health, agriculture/aquaculture, industry, energy and ecosystem issues. It covers the following sectors: education, medical, legal, economic, scientific, technological and management disciplines, as well as a wide range of business issues. It includes grassroots communities, industrial and business leaders, health specialists, educators, lawyers, economists, scientists and engineers of all types, and Box 1: government. The World Water Portal: a model for water information There is a huge body of information sharing and cooperation and knowledge on water, but language problems, limited access to Information and  The World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), Communication Technologies (ICT) facilities together with other water programmes and organizations, and limited finances deny many people is developing the ‘World Water Portal’, a model for water especially in lower-income countries access information sharing and cooperation. This portal to such information. Much of the knowledge will integrate various regional networks with the WWAP relates to advanced country problems and there global water portal using common structures, protocols, and is a marked lack of indigenous knowledge standards to provide seamless access to a wide and expertise relevant to local problems, information. Current priorities for the development of the World and an equal lack of appropriate research Water Portal include: on lower-income country problems. Science  Development of a network of reliable water information Executive Summary Executive | education at post-secondary level is facing a providers; severe crisis in many developing countries,  Development of an organizational structure that will and there is a growing perception that science provide technical support ( assistance/standards, is failing to tackle acute problems associated “good practice“ guidance for database and web-page with water supply, sanitation, food security development, search and database integration software, and the environment. Research on effective development of processes for data acquisition, etc.) institutional structures and management ensure information quality through peer review processes

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water (coordination/support of peer review process, discussion and Well-being Life to Challenges | techniques for lower-income countries is badly | 28 needed. Privatization is focusing research more lists, etc.) and promote the adherence to sound information 29 on industrial requirements than basic holistic management standards; research.  Capacity-building in the area of information management Water education is recognized as a and website development for partners and contributing strategic entry point to developing a new organizations, education and training for both managers ethic for water governance and, in Africa for and technicians enabling them to make more efficient use example, many countries are introducing of the Internet; water topics to their curricula. Overall  Facilitation of working partnerships via a physical and the challenges in ensuring the knowledge virtual network, the use of reliable information, and the base involve: expanding the capacity of improvement of integrated water resource management lower-income countries to develop their own decisions. By accurately and consistently describing relevant expertise, a big expansion in the information resources, and linking to other information exchange of knowledge and experience among partners, the Portal aims to provide a valuable and self- developing countries themselves (south-south perpetuating water information source for use by decision- cooperation), and, at the same time, ensuring makers, resource managers, researchers, students and the full access of lower-income countries to the the public at large. global body of water knowledge.  In preparation for going global, a prototype water portal is now being developed for the Americas. If appropriate, its techniques for sharing and integrating information will provide a basis for the World Water Portal. This model will allow local, national and regional water organizations to develop the relationships and pursue the water information issues that are most important to them while contributing to the world’s body of water knowledge. Other regions can then easily implement the prototype tools and technologies to rapidly expand the content and scope of the World Water Portal. http://www.waterportal-americas.org political dimensions are still under discussion – although there are many water governance issues that need to be addressed (as listed in box 2). However, it is agreed that the basic principlesHowever, of effective governance it is agreed include: participation by all stakeholders, transparency,that the equity, basic accountability, principles coherence, ofresponsiveness, effective integration governance and ethical issues. include: participation by all stakeholders, Challenge 11 transparency, equity, Executive Summary Executive | Governing accountability, coherence, Water responsiveness, Wisely for integration and ethical The reasons for slow progress

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water issues. and Well-being Life to Challenges | | 30 Sustainable include preoccupation with debt and 31 deficit reduction, reduced expenditure on Development environment-related infrastructure services (i.e. concentration on economic growth involving The water crisis is essentially a crisis of devolvement of responsibility for water to governance. The symptoms of this crisis have lower levels of government that lack the been set out earlier but the causes include: resources and capacity to act), and government lack of adequate water institutions, fragmented adoption of a private-sector-type business institutional structures (a sector-by-sector approach, without consultation with water management approach and overlapping and/ users, and without appropriate mechanisms or conflicting decision-making structures), for public participation in decision-making. upstream and downstream conflicting interests Although progress is slow, there are regarding riparian rights and access to water, encouraging trends in the needed reforms, and diversion of public resources for private gain, in three areas in particular: and unpredictability in the application of laws, 1. recognition of the need for sound regulations and licensing practices, which water governance and of certain impede markets. required reforms of policy and The governance of water occurs in institution, plus enforcement situations of high complexity and uncertainty, of laws and regulation, that are with managers functioning in situations essential to sustainable water characterized by rapid shifts and that often development; necessitate them acting as agents of positive 2. reform of water institutions and change. They have to deal with competing policies is now taking place in demands due to the many different interests many countries, but progress is related to water. Weaknesses in governance slow and limited; systems have greatly impeded progress towards 3. the IWRM approach is accepted sustainable development and the balancing in principle, but implementation of socio-economic needs with ecological is partial in both developed and sustainability. developing countries. As yet there is no agreed definition of water governance – ethical implications and Water rights are a contentious issue and Box 2: require more attention, possibly including Taiz water management planning: possibilities decoupling water rights from land-use rights, for rural/urban conflict resolution. to include equity and access to water for all. Reform in this area will be challenging. Various  In recent years, efforts have been made by the National forms of public-private partnerships exist, and Water Resources Authority (NWRA) in Yemen to minimize involvement of the private sector is likely to these social and political conflicts by implementing grow. To support this there needs to be a large a system of water transfers from rural to urban communities increase in national and local private company in the Taiz region within the context of IWRM. Key features capacity in the water sector in developing of this system included both demand management measures countries. There is the need, too, for good (such as input taxation and raising of public awareness) and regulation and for the required investment social measures (through definition of a regime of tradable to provide for it. Community-based delivery water rights). It was felt that demand management measures systems – including user associations, NGOs would only make a meaningful contributions towards achieving Executive Summary Executive | and local communities – have considerable the objective of sustainable water resources management potential. Their local knowledge and networks if adopted in conjunction with these social measures. are key assets for effective and equitable service  Defining a system for rural-urban water transfers called delivery, but they often lack funds, institutional for detailed consultations with the local rural communities, capacity and have limited membership. In particularly farmers, who frequently have little faith in the addition, they face difficulties of replicability institutions engaged in the consultative process. Discussions and scaling up of good practice. often led to heated arguments. Nevertheless, the process Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges | Reforms of water governance typically | continued over more than three years. The process was 30 take place following power-sector reform, and 31 considered as a valuable opportunity for confidence-building frequently take advantage of the synergy of and special efforts were made to ensure that dialogue break political and economic liberalization. Correct down at any stage. There were many rounds of discussion, selectivity and sequencing of the reform is sometimes with large groups of farmers, at other times only important, and reform can only be made with influential community leaders. Each round of discussion when there is demonstrated national and local built upon the issues and concerns raised in the previous political leadership. round. The achievement of more effective water governance requires the reform  The end result was that communities agreed to the and implementation of water policies and following main principles for rural-urban water transfers: institutions. Issues to be addressed include  There should be clearly defined rights, taking into account conflicting property rights and fragmentation ethical considerations such as priority for drinking water of institutions, and the facilitation of efficient needs. public- and private-sector initiatives and public  Except for water needed for drinking and basic needs, participation. Regulatory regimes must allow water should be allocated through market-like processes. clear and transparent transactions between  Water rights should be tradable and, to the extent stakeholders in a climate of trust, together possible, there should be direct compensation of with shared responsibility for safeguarding individuals willing to transfer their water rights to others, water resources. Reform in the water sector which is commensurate with the rights transferred. alone is not sufficient. Water resource issues  Water transfers should be verifiable. Those who agree to are complex and transcend the water sector. transfer their water rights must reduce their water use Policies related to, for example, macro- accordingly. economic development and demography,  The local communities should participate in designing the should take account of the impacts and effects rules and mechanisms to govern rural-urban transfers, on water resources and their uses. including a mechanism for monitoring compliance and punishing violators.  NWRA should have an oversight role in rural-urban transfers to ensure resource sustainability and equity.

Source: UNDESA. Prepared for the WWAP.  In the Senegal River basin, Pilot Case construction of dams has proved a mixed blessing – providing year-round water for agriculture, but also bringing problems for Studies: health and aquatic ecosystems.  In the case of Lake Titicaca, a Focus on the challenge for Peru and Bolivia is the management of a basin area inhabited by very Real-world poor indigenous people whose traditional values and way of life must be accommodated within any water resource scheme. Examples  Lastly, in Greater Tokyo, the heavily populated metropolitan area is subject to Seven case studies of river and lake basins have floods and other natural disasters. Management

Executive Summary Executive been used to illustrate the very different water | challenges include risk mitigation and public scenarios that exist in the world today. These awareness activities. include examples from advanced, middle-income and lower-income countries, of transboundary basins, high-altitude and low-altitude situations, of densely populated and sparsely populated basin areas, as well as of locations in both

Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water tropical areas and a cold, northerly setting. | 32 Collectively these case studies provide a good 33 overview of the range of water challenges confronting humankind as we begin to grasp the nettle of water-sector reform, improved water management, and possible . The pilot case studies appearing in this Fitting first WWDR are the Chao Phraya River basin (Thailand), the Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe basin the Pieces (Estonia and Russia), the Ruhuna basins (Sri Lanka), the Seine-Normandy basin (France), Together the Senegal River basin (Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal), the Lake Titicaca The eleven challenges that have shaped the basin (Bolivia and Peru) and Greater Tokyo structure of this first WWDR have a high level (Japan). Each one faces very specific challenges. of political ownership. They were launched by the Ministerial Meeting at the 2nd World Water  The Chao Phraya River basin Forum. They have been embraced by WEHAB, faces the challenge of trying to unify a very the framework highlighted by the 2002 World fragmented water management system and is Summit on Sustainable Development, as introducing a new water law. integral to a coherent international approach  Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe is subject to sustainable development. And they coincide to eutrophication and other pressures, but with the departmental responsibilities of is gearing up to meet new standards when many governments. They are, of course, of Estonia enters the European Community. recent origin as a structure for analyzing the  The Ruhuna basins are devising water sector and they can be linked together ways to cope with water stress due to seasonal and viewed through different lenses, such as variations and increased demands from sustainable development, the Poverty and irrigation and hydropower. Action Framework, and others.  The Seine-Normandy basin, despite At the country level, the water situation many improvements in recent years, still varies enormously. Substantial water and suffers from pollution and the loss of other relevant information is available for valuable wetlands. many countries, from many sources, and this has been used to make a country-by- country analysis of their key water sector characteristics, as well as their progress Afterword towards meeting the Millennium Development This first edition of the WWDR has thus Goals. brought together twenty-three agencies in Looking at the effects of the various the UN system and other entities concerned challenge areas, it is plain that while with freshwater issues. In addition, many the negative impacts of each challenge on the governments have participated, making poor are bad enough in and of themselves, valuable contributions to the report. the brutal truth is that the really poor suffer Future issues of the WWDR will build a combination of most, and sometimes all, of on the partnerships already forged between the problems in the water sector. A moment’s UN agencies and with governments. In thought about this brings home the extent addition, and increasingly, non-governmental to which the water crisis is truly about the and intergovernmental organizations Executive Summary Executive | blighted lives of the world’s poor. will contribute, as will the private sector, A review of progress towards overcoming regional financial institutions and academic the problems of the water sector is not, so far, organizations. very encouraging. Yes, many actions have been The WWDR will remain an integral part started, but to take a charitable view, they have of the World Water Assessment Programme. not yet yielded the needed results, although This programme is scheduled to include the they may in the years to come. integration of relevant databases within the Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water Afterwords | Many targets have been set over the | 32 UN system and within countries. Furthermore, 33 past thirty years and will continue to be set. the WWDR will be incorporated into a major However, experience over this period shows a Water Portal on the worldwide web and consistent pattern of failure in achieving those become a ‘living document’, to be updated targets. An analysis of the magnitude of the and expanded over the years ahead. Emphasis task, for example, shows just how enormous will be placed on the further development the challenge is: to meet the water supply and and application of indicators, and continued sanitation targets, 342,000 people will have monitoring of progress towards the realization to be provided with sanitation every day until of targets will be vigorously pursued. 2015. Above all, there will be an increased Will water availability be a constraint emphasis on building national capacities to to target achievement? Maybe; we do not make effective reporting of progress, at both really know. One of the great unknowns is country and local levels. For, when all is the extent of humankind’s capacity to adapt. said and done, it is action at the local level, Note that the Jordanians, for example, can improving the lives of real people, which survive on a per capita water availability counts the most. 3 of a mere 176 m per year, far below the Let this first WWDR, then, be a rallying minimum specified as absolute water scarcity. call for all of us to work together to make Reform and liberalization of the water sector, the world a better place for everyone, but better valuation of water, and more private- especially for those who are most in need. sector involvement, could bring forward new technology and ways of operating, which, allied to our capacity to adapt, could enable us to muddle through. This, however, is to take an optimistic view. The realist would have to say that, on the basis of the evidence put forth by this first WWDR, the prospects for many hundreds of millions of people in the lower- income countries, as well as for the , do not look good. REFERENCES

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| World’s Ecosystem Services the 21st Century. Sustainable World Bank. 2001. World | 34 and ’, Nature. Development Series. Paris, Development Indicators 35 Vol. 387, pp. 253–60. PricewaterhouseCoopers. (WDI). Available in CD-Rom. CRED (Centre for Research Roger, P. 1997. ‘Integrating Water WSSCC (Water Supply and on the Epidemiology of Resources Management Sanitation Collaborative Disasters). 2002. The OFDA/ with Economic and Social Council). 2000. Vision 21: CRED International Disaster Development’. Key note Water for People – A Shared Database. Brussels, Université presented at the Harare Vision for Hygiene, Sanitation Catholique De Louvain. Expert Group Meeting and Water Supply and FAO (Food and Agricultural (UNDESA, 1998). A Framework for Action. Organization). Forthcoming. Shiklomanov, I.-A. Forthcoming. Geneva. World Agriculture: Towards World Water Resources at the 2015/2030, an FAO Study. Beginning of the 21st Century. . Cambridge, Cambridge –––––– 1997a. ‘Irrigation University Press. Potential in Africa. A Basin UN (United Nations). 1992. Approach’, FAO Land and Agenda 21. Programme Water Bulletin. Vol. 4. Rome. of Action for Sustainable –––––– 1997b. Water Resources Development. Official outcome of the Near-East Region: a of the United Nations Review. Rome Conference on Environment GWP (Global Water Partnership). and Development (UNCED), 2000. Toward Water Security: 3–14 June 1992, Rio de A Framework for Action to Janeiro. Achieve the Vision for Water in ––––––. 2000. United Nations the 21st Century. Stockholm. Millennium Declaration. International Journal on Resolution adopted by the Hydropower and Dams. General Assembly. A/RES/ 1997. 1997 Atlas of 55/2. Hydropower and Dams. ———. 2002. World Urbanization United Kingdom, - Prospects; The 2001 Revision; Media International Ltd. Data Tables and Highlights. Population Division, New York, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN Secretariat, ESA/P/WP/ 173. © UNESCO–WWAP 2003. All rights reserved UN partners: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

United Nations Funds and Programmes United Nations Regional Commissions United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT) Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific United Nations Department of Economic and Social (ESCAP) Affairs (UNDESA) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Economic Commission for Latin America and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Caribbean (ECLAC) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Economic Commission for (ESCWA) United Nations University (UNU) Secretariats of United Nations Conventions and Decades Specialized UN Agencies Secretariat of the Convention to Combat Desertification Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) (CCD) Executive Summary Executive

| International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention (World Bank) on Climate Change (CCC) World Health Organization (WHO) Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Reduction (ISDR) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) United Nations Industrial Development Organization Water for People, Water for Life Life for Water People, for Water and Well-being Life to Challenges

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Photo credits: Cover: UNICEF/S.Noorani, UNESCO/D.Riffet, SP/A.Bartschi, UNESCO/D.Roger, UNICEF/L.Goodsmith, UNICEF/A.Balaguer, SP/P.Frischmuth; p. 4: Still Pictures/M. Edwards, Still Pictures/R. Seite; p. 5: FAO, Swynk; p. 6: UNESCO/MAB; p. 7: Swynk, UNESCO/P. Coles; p. 8: Swynk, WHO; p. 9: UNICEF; p. 10: UNESCO/CZAP-AZA; UNICEF/S. Noorani, UNESCO/P. Coles; p. 11: FAO; p. 12: Cincinnati Post/Enquirer, UNESCO/D. Riffet; p. 13: UNESCO/D. Roger; p. 15: UNICEF, Still Pictures/P. Frischmuth; p. 16: Govt of Japan, Still Pictures/E. Cleigne; p. 17: UNEP; p. 18: Swynk; p. 19: Swynk; p. 21: WHO, UNESCO/P. Coles; p. 22: ISDR, UNEP, UNEP; p. 25: UNEP; p. 26: UNEP, Swynk; p. 28: Still Pictures/G. Nicolet, Peeter Unt; p. 30: FAO/P. Johnson, Swynk.

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For the first time, twenty-three United Nations agencies and convention secretariats have combined their efforts and expertise to produce a collective World Water Development Report, offering a global overview of the Executive Summary state of the world’s freshwater resources.

This Executive Summary sets forth the key issues and seven pilot case studies presented in this important and timely reference book. Water for People Water for Life

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